The whole presented a scene of the wildest alarm, confusion, and license.

Vociferations, oaths, shrieks, and outcries of every description stunned the ear.

Night was turned into day.

The awful roaring of the flames was ever and anon broken by the thundering fall of some heavy roof.

Flakes of fire were scattered far and wide by the driving wind, carrying destruction wherever they alighted, and spreading the conflagration on all sides, till it seemed like a vast wedge of fire driven into the heart of the city.